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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gamesmanship is the use of dubious (although
not technically illegal) methods to win a game, such as golf or snooker. "Pushing the rules to the limit
without getting caught, using whatever dubious methods possible to
achieve the desired end." (Lumpkin, Stoll and Beller, 1994:92). As
opposed to sportsmanship, it may be inferred that
the term derives from playing for the game (to win at any cost) as
opposed to playing for sport. The term originates from Stephen Potter's
humorous 1947 book, The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship (or
the Art of Winning Games without Actually Cheating).

Origins

Stephen Potter cites the origin of gamesmanship to be a tennis
match[1] in
which he and the philosopher C. E. M. Joad competed against two
younger and fitter men who were outplaying them fairly comfortably.
On returning a serve, Joad hit the ball straight into the
back-netting twelve feet behind the back-line. While the opponents
were preparing for the next serve Joad queried whether the ball had
landed in, or out. Being young, polite university students, their
opponents offered to replay the point, but Joad declined. Because
they were young and polite, the slight suggestion by Joad that
their etiquette and sportsmanship was in question was extremely
off-putting. Potter and Joad went on to win the match.

Techniques

The most common techniques of gamesmanship are the
following.

Breaking the flow of an opponent's play.

Causing an opponent to take the game less seriously or to
overthink his or her position.

Intentionally making a "mistake" which gains an advantage over
an opponent.

While the first method is more common at higher levels of
sports, the last two are more powerful in amateur games.

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Breaking the
flow

Examples of "flow-breaking" methods include:

In darts, the player
intentionally takes a long time to take their darts out of the
dartboard. (Peter
Manley has been widely accused of this.)

Feigning injury to delay the game, or to imply you won't be
playing at your best. The skilled gamesman can counter this tactic
by waiting until the game has been in play for some time, before
revealing that he or she suffers from a far more serious condition,
such as a heart
defect.

In billiards or snooker, intentionally standing in your
opponent's line of sight, and then suddenly moving when you
"realise" you're in the wrong place.

Distracting your opponent by complaining about other people who
might be (but weren't) distracting your opponent. Potter, who
always insisted that the good gamesman must give the appearance of
being a good sportsman, recommended this approach. For
example, if an opponent is about to take a shot at billiards, it is
bad gamesmanship to fidget and whistle but good gamesmanship to
distract him by loudly requesting silence from spectators.

When winning a point you should look directly at the opponent,
but when losing one always avoid eye contact.

In cricket, coming out
to bat with two right-handed gloves and then wasting time sorting
it out.

In baseball, a batter
can disrupt a pitcher's flow by calling time just before he
delivers the pitch.

When losing an outdoor game, feigning a deep, informed and more
than amateur interest in e.g. botany or ornithology, in order to convey the breadth
of your interests and suggest to opponent that you are not really
concerned about losing. This can cause them to relax their
attention, or at any rate rob them of the satisfaction of beating
you.

In amateur hockey, types of "flow-breaking" include
intentionally icing the puck, lining up at the wrong face-off dot,
or shooting the puck over the glass (in professional hockey, the
team that ices the puck is not allowed a line change, while
shooting the puck over the glass leads to a two-minute
penalty).

Causing your opponent to
overthink

Examples of methods designed to cause your opponent to overthink
or to not take the game seriously enough include:

Giving intentionally vague advice in the hope of making your
opponent focus on his play.

Asking one's opponent's advice for a (fictitious) match the
following day, against an implied stronger opponent.

Claiming that the game you are playing "just isn't my sport",
or claiming less expertise than you actually possess (a mild form
of hustling).

In American football, the very common
practice of taking one or more timeouts to give an opposing kicker
an excessive amount of time to think about a critical kick; most
often a field goal or extra point but sometimes a potential on-side
kick. The intent is to cause the kicker to get overly stressed
about making a mistake and hopefully create a self-fulfilling
prophecy. This is commonly referred to as "icing the
kicker".

The converse approach, suggesting a level of expertise far
higher than you actually possess, can also be effective. For
example, although gamesmanship frowns on simple distractions like
whistling loudly while an opponent takes a shot, it is good
gamesmanship to do so when taking a shot oneself, suggesting as it
does a level of carefree detachment which your opponent does not
possess.

Intentional "mistakes"

Examples of intentional "mistakes" designed to gain an
advantage:

In bridge, intentionally misdealing and
then engaging in chaotic bidding, knowing that the hand will be
void anyway.

In poker, intentionally
raising out of turn, to induce players to give you a free
card.

All of the above are considered very close to cheating, and the abuser of
gamesmanship techniques will find himself penalized in most serious
sports and games tournaments, as well as being deemed (if caught) a
"bad sport".

Football/soccer

In association football (soccer), it is
considered good sportsmanship to kick the ball out of play if a
player on the opposing side is injured; when the ball is to be
thrown in, it is also considered to be good sportsmanship in this
situation to kick it (or throw it) back to the other team who had
intentionally kicked it out. Gamesmanship arises in this situation
when, rather than passing the ball back to the side who kicked the
ball out, the injured player's teammates keep the ball after the
throw-in. Whilst not illegal or against the rules of the sport, it
is heavily frowned upon. Feigning injury to cause the ball to be
kicked out is another example of gamesmanship intended to break the
flow of play[2] When a
free kick is awarded, members of the defending team will often pick
up the ball and drop it back behind them as they retreat. Whilst
not throwing the ball away, which would be an infringement, the
purpose is to prevent a swiftly taken free kick.

Another less used tactic in association football is to "take out
the opposition by means of harming them with the ball by direct
aim". This is, however, both bad sportsmanship and entirely against
the original spirit of gamesmanship.

Usage
outside of games

The term "gamesmanship" is also used for similar techniques used
in non-game situations, such as negotiations and elections.

Each form is frequently used as a means of describing dubious
methods of winning and/or psychological tricks used to intimidate
or confuse one's opponent. Technically speaking, these tactics are
One-upmanship,
defined in a later book by Potter as the art of being one-up on
somebody else.

The term also appears in art theory to mean playfulness, as in
"literary gamesmanship". [1][2]

See also

References

The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship: The Art of Winning
Games Without Actually Cheating is a book by Stephen Potter,
from which most of the above derives, although it must be
emphasized that Potter was being humorous, and always suggested
that one should be a good sportsman first and foremost.

Books
extending Potter's theories of gamesmanship

Raffles and the Match-Fixing Syndicate, by Adam
Corres, concerning the principles of gamesmanship in cricket.

References

^ ,
though if detected, it may be regarded as ungentlemanly conduct,
which is a breach of the laws and hence is no longer gamesmanship.
In response to claims of feigned injuries during the 2006 World
Cup, the Premier League has asked players, managers and referees to
end the custom as of the 06/07 season, instead preferring a referee
alone to determine whether a break in play is needed.